The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, announced that “without immediate additional funding, the agency will not be able to continue its operations beyond September, which threatens to close more than 700 schools and 140 health centers.”

During a meeting of the Agency’s advisory committee in Beirut, Lazzarini stressed that emergency services in all areas of (UNRWA) operations “will stop, leaving millions of Palestine refugees who depend on aid from UNRWA on the cusp of starvation,” stressing that “this is not the time for hesitation.” . It is time to act.”

He called for “increasing predictable and sustainable funding for the Agency,” noting “the real risks and potential impact of the suspension of services on Palestine refugees.”

He said, “The humanitarian, political and security repercussions of the impasse into which we (UNRWA) are heading are enormous. Human suffering in the region will reach new heights, and the cost to the international community will be far beyond the cost of filling UNRWA’s chronic funding shortfalls.

He added, “Our responsibility towards Palestine refugees is to lead the transformation of UNRWA to make it a sustainable agency that supports the rights of Palestine refugees. My priority remains to accompany this transformation responsibly.”

He pointed out that “the meeting of the Advisory Committee this time should serve as an early warning of the looming disaster that we will face in September if we do not receive additional funding,” explaining that “our budget is narrow and cannot be reduced further if we want to fulfill the tasks of our mandate.” to the public services UNRWA provides to Palestine refugees in the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The UNRWA Advisory Committee held its meeting in Beirut over two days, following the “International Pledging Conference on UNRWA,” which was held earlier this month in New York.

The meeting was attended by the Director of the Jordanian Refugee Affairs Department, Eng. Rafiq Kharfan, and delegations from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, in addition to Egypt and a delegation from the League of Arab States.

Petra